Nutcracker

Abstract

A manual nutcracker which includes a spring loaded ram which impacts a plunger with limited travel and strikes the nut shell in an enclosed chamber and shatters the shell without damaging the nut itself.

I claim: 
     
       1. A manual nutcracker comprising: a base rail having two ends, a top, a bottom and two sides;   a stop block affixed to one end of said bottom;   two ram guides having two ends which are mounted to the top and sides of the base rail corresponding to one another at the end of the base rail opposite the end on which the stop block is affixed, each ram guide contains a way and the two ways face each other;   a ram having top and bottom, and two sides, said sides interact with the ways in the two ram guides;   a handle attached to the top of the ram;   a plunger block mounted to the top of the base rail between the two ram guides and the end of the base rail where the stop block is affixed, said plunger block contains a hole therethrough which is parallel to the base rail;   a hook attached to the bottom of the ram;   a fixed hook mounted to the top of base rail between the ram guides at the end of the ram guides closest to the plunger block;   a biasing means having two ends with one end attached to the hook on the ram and the other end attached to the fixed hook;   a plunger having a head at one end, a face at the other end and a shaft between the head and the face, the head and the face each having a diameter greater than the diameter of the shaft, the shaft interacts acts with the hole in the plunger block, and the length of the shaft is greater than the length of the hole in the plunger block, such that the plunger can not be removed from the plunger block but can move longitudinally within the hole in the plunger block;   a pair of tongues are formed longitudinally into each side of the base rail from the end of the base rail with the stop block to where the plunger block is mounted to the base rail;   a chamber housing having grooves which interact with the tongues on the base rail such that the chamber housing slides along the base rail from the end with the stop block to the plunger block, the chamber housing contains a cracking chamber which slides within the chamber housing and is biased by an anti-crushing spring such that it is biased toward the end of the chamber housing which is closest to the plunger block.